22 Saturday Jul 2023
Posted in health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
I had a very busy day on Thursday…
so I didn’t have time to get a trim because my hair had apparently gone wild overnight…
instead I dug out my sharp scissors and cut my own hair…
think it came out okay, lol… although, as always, I can’t really see the back;-)…
21 Friday Jul 2023
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
band, big girl pants, blessed, candles, concert, family, moments, music, Planetarium, quartet, queen, Technology, widow
the other night we went to a Candlelight Concert at the Planetarium… fun to get out…
a string quartet played music from Queen as well as a few opera pieces…
it was lovely and we enjoyed it…
we also decided we’d like to attend one of the actual planetarium shows, lol…
20 Thursday Jul 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
barking, big girl pants, dogs, garden, learn, moments, nature, neighbours, widow, words
we have new neighbours…
they seem like a lovely couple, but they have two dogs…
the dogs bark whenever they see or hear me in the garden… or if there is any activity in the area… if another dog barks, they bark, if someone goes down the lane they bark… if someone gets too close to the front of their house, they bark…
the former residents had a dog, but it was taught not to bark, and I knew the words they used, so I was able to reinforce their training… so it didn’t bark at me after a very short while…
I asked if there were any specific words to use to stop the barking, but apparently they don’t have any…
I am hoping that these dogs will eventually accept that I am not a threat and will stop with the barking whenever I move around the garden…
I have been trying to sit very still as I read or watch the nature around me…
wish me luck…
19 Wednesday Jul 2023
Posted in garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterflies, caterpillars, change, colours, flowers, garden, milkweed, moments, monarch, multiply, nature, plants, pond, purple, widow
strange happenings with the milkweed…
I am very happy as they continue to multiply…
not too many caterpillars, and they seem to nest on the plants closer to a wall rather than the ones nearest to the pond… maybe there is more protection from predators there… too bad for me, as pictures are easier beside the pond, lol…
the odd thing is that the plants along the edge of the pond, all with the same origin, have produced two different coloured flowers…
the usual pink/purple flowers…
and these white ones which are turning yellow…
will be interesting to see what they do next year, lol…
18 Tuesday Jul 2023
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, cool, cushions, garden, July, moments, nature, rain, vest, weather, widow
it was chilly on Saturday morning so I had on a vest and put my Assiniboine Park Conservancy blanket over my legs…
it is mid July;-(…
a few times later in the day, I had to put away all the cushions because it rained for short periods of time, lol…
and I kept that vest on all day…
17 Monday Jul 2023
Posted in business, garden, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, changes, fish, garden, goldfish, iteration, leaks, memories, moments, nature, planting, plants, pond, remembering, rocks, Technology, ten, time, water lilies, waterfall, widow
the current iteration of the pond is ten years old…
hard to believe that much time has passed…
this is how it looked just as it was completed…
after it was finished, they had to come back and deal with leaking and runoff…nearly all of the plants have changed over time, lol… and I have changed the slate around the edge of the pond for large river rocks…
it still loses water when the waterfall is running and this year I have left if off for a good portion of the time… I also think the fish are out and about more when it isn’t running, lol… I do have a bubbler going all the time…
this year the water lilies are extremely happy… they continue to produce blooms daily, it is both amazing and delightful…
today, I turned the waterfall on and realized that I’d been missing it, and how well it dilutes other sounds in the neighbourhood…
16 Sunday Jul 2023
Posted in business, family, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, birthday gift, blessed, construction, flower subscription, flowers, Kenaston, moments, nature, Sweet Petals Farm, traffic, widow
Thursday I picked up the second flower bouquet from my Sweet Petals Farm subscription…
it is at the same place where I went last year…
unfortunately, it involves Kenaston Avenue, yikes… the construction that is going on will likely take place all summer, so I need to find the best method of getting there and back without being stuck in a very long parking lot…
most recently, I crossed Kenaston and travelled along Corydon to Moray and that worked well…
I think that will be the route for the next while…
15 Saturday Jul 2023
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, family, food, grandson, grilled cheese, learning, moments, raspberries, Technology, treat, waffle maker, waffles, widow
on Thursday we made waffles…
we had to get milk, raspberries, and whipping cream… although, not being clear, I was presented with a can of already whipped cream, lol… we chose raspberries instead of strawberries, as they are both of our favourites…
the recipe calls for separating the eggs, beating them, and folding the whites in at the end…
the most complicated piece was figuring out which bowls to use…
they came out great and we even froze a few to try reheating in the toaster…
next up will be grilled cheese;-)…
13 Thursday Jul 2023
Posted in business, garden, moments, nature, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, bunny, chewed, connect, dig, family, garden, irrigation, irrigation system, moments, nature, oops, plants, rubber, teeth, tubes, water, widow, working
been trying to figure out why the irrigation system hadn’t been working properly…
no matter what I tried it kept sending water over the waterfall and nearly into the cushions on my chair…
we discovered that some of the smaller rubber tubes had been cut… possibly by bunny teeth;-)…
we were able to fix a few, but needed more tubing…
went to Lee Valley and picked up another of the systems so that it can also water the vegetable garden…
laid the main hose out in the sun to soften the curves and then stretched it out to see if it would go where I wanted it… looked like it would work fine…
we attached the new unit to the end of the main line so that it could send water to either the garden beds or the veggie section…
then the main hose was dug into the ground between the connection point and the veggie garden…
the hose was run along the back of the planters, holes were punched into it, the watering heads were added to each of the pots… another hole was made leading to the file cabinet planter and then the last bits were added…
it works perfectly and I am absolutely thrilled with the outcome;-)…
hmmm, wonder if we can figure out how to deal with the pots around the deck and in the centre of the garden🤪…
12 Wednesday Jul 2023
Posted in food, garden, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, brush, butternut squash, cucumber, drafting, flowers, food, garden, moments, nature, pollen, sun, weather, widow
been spending a bit of time each morning in the veggie patch (aka the side garden)…
the tomatoes have been doing well and there are now pea pods beginning to fill out, flowers on the beans, a few new cucumbers starting and, just maybe a squash…
there have been many squash flowers, but they have mostly been male… I have been trying to pollinate the female flowers in hopes of getting at least one squash…
one batch of cucumbers haven’t put out even the start of a cucumber, so I have been brushing them with a drafting brush that was my beloved’s in the hope that some might get pollinated and produce fruit…
think I will try to plant another few beans and see if they have enough time to produce;-)…
herbiggirlpants 